My Life As A Gamer: Letting Inactive Characters Remain Useful In A Campaign

(We return to our regularly-scheduled talk about Advanced Dungeon & Dragons, 1st Edition.)

A while back I pointed out that the Fighter (and its subclasses) are able to perform the role of Serjeants, Lieutenants, and Captains; for the Fighter in particular, this is an undocumented class ability.

What is now obvious is that a similar thing should be talked about, but in a different context: handling the characters of a player that, for whatever reason, needs to become inactive in the campaign.

Why is not relevant. It may be due to health emergencies, being called up for war, financial difficulties, natural disasters, being chased around the world by irate K-pop stans, making the mistake of doing business with Discount Dan- you get the idea.

Why not let the player's characters slip into the roles of useful NPCs while the player is away? Most PCs are going to be able to do something useful, so let them.

The Inactive Character As A Tutor

Training comes up a lot. As the Dungeon Master's Guide points out on page 86, the character undergoing training must train under a tutor of the same class until they reach Name Level. Past that point, they can self-train to advance.

A character above 1st level can act as a trainer for anyone else of that class below him in level, as can be inferred logically by these rules, and train others up to his level. Normally, discussion of this fact presumes that the tutor is not a Player Character. Nothing forbids PCs from training others.

One of the things that a PC can do when their player needs to go inactive for a time due to real life consuming their free time is to park themselves someplace secure--like a fortified camp or castle--and make themselves available as a trainer in return for payment. The specifics will need to be rules upon by the Referee, as the Training Cost in gold are an abstraction that covers more than paying the tutor, but some could--and should--go to the tutor.

The Inactive Character As An Expert

We can do the same for similar regular actions that require significant downtime, such as consulting a Sage or creating things. Assuming that the Referee will allow a given course of action--more relevant for making things than digging up information--then a PC that must go inactive can act in the role of that Expert Hirelings or other friendly NPC until that player can return to play.

Spell-casters tend to be suitable as Sages, if they can demonstrate relevant expertise in a topic of inquiry; if they have an Alchemist on staff they can work with that NPC to assist on potion creation, and those willing to make scrolls may also be able (if allowed) to operate as scribes or archivsts. Others can work as armorers, blacksmiths, jewelers, and so on; dwarves and gnomes tend to get a leg-up here. Assassins, naturally, are your poison-makers when they're able to do so.

Beyond that you'll have to lean a bit more on the Referee to see what he will allow. The Ranger could be expected to keep up some awareness of conditions near his base of operations, the Cleric the mood of his followers, the Fighter the condition of his army, and so on; this may involve some moving about, or ordering subordinates about, to keep up morale and maitnain readiness.

The Inactive Character As An Intelligence Source

Active characters could tap the inactive ones (with approval) for useful information, if they have any. Those seeking to hit up a dungeon that the inactive character is known to attempt may (ditto) offer up useful intelligence, with the caveat that it may be out of date.

This should be attempted, ruled upon, and resolved during downtime so that the active players have the option to act upon that information or do something else before everyone gets together to play. Active play time should be focused upon the agreed course of action for that session; this sort of thing should never waste precious table time.

The Referee is cautioned to account for any prior restraint that the inactive player established regarding the divulging of information that his character would rather reserve for use upon returning to active play; if he wants his Fighter to go after a certain magic weapon in a dungeon, his man is not likely to tell anyone else where it might be.

In this respect, such intelligence is akin to trading spells; such valuable information would be sold dearly, if sold at all, due to not only the Opportunity Cost involved but also the odds of the seeking party to make good on achieving what the knowing party has not. If the seeking party cannot provide equiable exchange of value, including that of the information if realized in the form of treasure, then the request should be refused.

Conclusion

Letting the characters of inactive players assume NPC-like roles is just a variation of letting players take up major NPCs such as faction heads or major monsters. This lets the character remain in the campaign, lets the inactive player keep a hand in while real life occupies their time, and can be used to fill out necessary infrastructure such as training active characters when they level up or making things for them.

This should not be presumed; it is up to the Referee to determine, and he is within his authority to do so on a case-by-case basis. If in doubt, ask.

Maybe this would work for you. Try it, find out, and get back to us.